


broken connection

by junyeonbug



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Heartbreak, M/M, i cried proofreading this, i dont know whos the ass junhui or seungcheol, im sorry, jisoo is the angel, mingyu might seem a lil like an ass, poor seungcheol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-04
Updated: 2016-11-04
Packaged: 2018-08-29 00:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8469211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/junyeonbug/pseuds/junyeonbug
Summary: In this world, people are connected to their soulmates via a thin invisible red string tied around their left pinky. Only one in a million people are able to see this string, and Seungcheol's one of them. He's sure that his soulmate is the only one for him, but sadly, it didn't work the other way round. Seungcheol's determined to win him back.





	

**Author's Note:**

> helloooo its your least favourite juncheol enthusiast finally posting a new one shot after 700 years!! it was exam period so i couldnt write so much >.< so now that exams (and all procrastinating) are over i can finally feed your hungry juncheol (and maybe junhao) souls. :)

"I'm meeting Minghao and Junhui tomorrow, and you're coming."

Seungcheol widened his eyes at the word 'Junhui'. _"What?"_

"What do you mean, _what?_ Minghao invited me to eat lunch with his boyfriend, and said I could invite my friends, so I invited you. Oh, Jisoo's coming too."

Seungcheol visibly relaxed at the mention of Jisoo. At least there was someone whom he could talk to if things got too awkward.

"Do I really have to go... I mean, Junhui's going to be there," Seungcheol stared at the red string tied around his pinky. The red string stretched for about several centimetres, before fading away into the surroundings. Seungcheol saw the faded end shift about. _He must be walking around now_ , the boy thought.

"So what if Junhui's going to be there? Seungcheol, you need to get over him, okay, he's taken by Minghao now. Listen, Seungcheol, Junhui's already moved on from you, so why can't you do the same?" Mingyu sighed. Seungcheol played around with the string.

"Because I still love him, Kim Mingyu! You don't understand! You wouldn't get over your boyfriend so easily if he just dumped you one day, right?" Seungcheol yelled.

"I would! Because he's an asshole who chooses someone else who's worse than me! Look, Junhui _obviously_  doesn't look at you as a boyfriend anymore, and he has Minghao, so why bother sticking to him?" Seungcheol remained silent. Mingyu had given him this talk for the millionth time already, and yet Seungcheol didn't listen to him.

"Jisoo and I'll be outside your house at 12 tomorrow, get ready," Mingyu said softly and hung up, leaving Seungcheol there thinking about his words.

He had no chance with Junhui? Of course he did. He just needed to get the irritating boyfriend-stealer out of the way before he could call Junhui his again. But he could never tell Mingyu or Jisoo that. And will Junhui still like him? Seungcheol could never answer this question.

Yes, of course Junhui still liked him. Junhui still wore the necklace that Seungcheol gave him for his birthday when they were still dating, claiming it was a lucky charm. Seungcheol interpreted it as he was Junhui's lucky charm. Junhui still liked him.

He remembered the day he first met Junhui. The first thing he noticed was that their left pinkys were connected by the red string that nobody but Seungcheol, and his friend Jisoo, could see. The second thing was Junhui's beautiful and handsome face that was smiling at him.

He remembered the day when they first started dating. Their first date was at a coffee place, where Seungcheol accidentally got foam on him lips without realising. And of course, Junhui kissed it away. Cliche as hell, but it still made Seungcheol's heart do flips.

He remembered the day when Junhui jokingly told Seungcheol, "Imagine if our pinkys were connected; imagine if we were actually soulmates," he said with a giggle and looked at both of their left pinkys. Seungcheol just laughed and said that he wished it was true, but his smile faded when he looked down and saw the short red string connecting their pinkys. He never told Junhui his special ability, and thus Junhui never knew that they were connected physically.

He remembered the day when Junhui first declined a date. Seungcheol thought it was weird as he knew Junhui had no plans on that day, but he didn't think much about it. He did think much about it when the second date was declined, and Seungcheol had asked him, "you're free today, what's up?" Junhui just told him his mom needed him at home. Seungcheol believed him at the moment, but knew he was lying as the look in Junhui's eyes were different.

He remembered their last date - it was at a cinema, the two had watched the movie in absolute silence. Seungcheol had walked Junhui home after that, gave him an awkward embrace, and that was the last time the two had ever spent time with each other.

He remembered when Junhui's calls to him started becoming a rare occasion; when Junhui avoided his gaze when they passed by each other in the halls; when they hardly texted anymore. Seungcheol already knew what was wrong, but he didn't bother going up to him and confronting him face-to-face. He knew Junhui was cheating on him.

And his predictions came true when Junhui texted him out of the blue. "I'm sorry" was all that he said, but that was enough for Seungcheol's world to come crashing down on him. At least Jisoo was there to comfort him about Junhui abandoning him; Jisoo always knew how he felt and always understood him. Seungcheol and Jisoo had first met on the first day of high school, sitting beside each other in class. When Seungcheol caught Jisoo eyeing his left pinky, he asked him if he could see the string. That was the beginning of their long lasting friendship.

Seungcheol thought he was never going to see Junhui again. When he walked down the hallways to his classes he never passed by Junhui anymore, so he suspected that Junhui and his newfound boyfriend purposely took the routes that didn't clash with Seungcheol's.

But then Jisoo introduced him to Mingyu, his cousin that had recently joined the school. Seungcheol was glad that he made another friend, and was even happier when Mingyu announced he had another friend, who was coming with his boyfriend, that he wanted us to meet the next day. Seungcheol smiled politely at Minghao but froze at the sight of Junhui who was holding Minghao's hand, looking straight into Seungcheol's eyes and smiling, as if mocking him.

Seungcheol expected Junhui to have the same reaction as him, but when Junhui introduced himself to Seungcheol as if it was their first time meeting, he doubted if he had ever occupied a special position in Junhui's heart in the first place.

Ever since then, Junhui acted like a normal friend to Seungcheol, never bringing up the fact that they used to date when they were walking together. The pain in Seungcheol's heart grew whenever he looked down at their connected pinkys, so whenever Junhui was within an arm's length from him, Seungcheol made sure to keep his chin up.

Then there was another problem - Mingyu's pinky was connected to Minghao's - but that didn't last for long. As soon as Seungcheol and Jisoo informed him about it, he practically begged them to cut it off, seeing that he would  _never_  date Minghao and that Minghao was already with Junhui. That just put more weight on Seungcheol's shoulders, as now he was the only one who was seperating Minghao and Junhui from each other.

Seungcheol could never get over Junhui. No matter how much he tried - going on blind dates set up by Jisoo and Mingyu - his heart forever said "_ go back to Junhui_".

"Cutting it off is the only way," Jisoo told him when they were alone, "if you want to stop hurting," Seungcheol shook his head.

"I have a chance. I'll... take Minghao away from him and make him fall in love with me again. I'll make it happen, Jisoo," Seungcheol tightened the loose red string.

"Don't you think it's kind of selfish? You're stealing someone else from their healthy relationship. Think about it, Seungcheol. Their happy with each other, it's only you who's wallowing in your misery," Jisoo placed a hand on Seungcheol's hand.

"Selfish? That bastard was the one who stole Junhui away from me first! And I'm going to get him back," Seungcheol stood up and walked away.

Since then, Seungcheol told himself to confess his feelings to Junhui the next time they met, but always chickened out at the last moment and thus Junhui remained clueless about Seungcheol's feelings.

"I'm going to do it tomorrow," Seungcheol snapped out of his thoughts and eyed the string with determination, "tomorrow."

╰(・∇・╰)

"If looks could burn, Minghao would be roasted by now. Stop glaring, Seungcheol."

Seungcheol turned to face Mingyu with a scowl. "Let me burn whatever I want. If you could burn Minghao for me, that would be even better," he rolled his eyes.

Mingyu sighed, running a hand through his silverish-purple hair, "you won't ever listen to me nor Jisoo, will you."

"Of course not. Just you look, I'm going to steal Junhui back and make him fall in love with me again today," Seungcheol's hands clenched to fists as the Minghao and Junhui couple walked hand in hand in front of them.

( ⚆ _ ⚆ )

Not long after, they reached the restaurant. Seungcheol made it a point to sit directly opposite of Junhui, so that he could see that their pinkys were connected. That motivated him to win Junhui's heart again.

Sitting opposite of Junhui did have bad points. Seungcheol was forced to watch Minghao and Junhui feed each other with that "here comes the airplane~!" trick parents use on babies and do the 'eating-from-both-sides-of-the-same-noodle-until-they-kissed' thing. Honestly Seungcheol wouldn't mind it one bit if he was doing that with Junhui, but Minghao was a different story.

Jisoo was helping a little. Sitting beside Seungcheol, he tried his best to include Seungcheol in a conversation that him and Mingyu were having about pokemon but Seungcheol thought that burning holes in Minghao's face was way more fun. Mingyu helped too, mostly giving Minghao the stink eye when too much PDA was going on, but he did it mostly to protect his eyes' virginity and not to make Seungcheol feel more comfortable.

Jisoo suddenly pulled out his phone and looked at it for a few seconds, before clearing his throat and announcing, "my mom wants Mingyu and I home now. I think she has chores for us to do. See you guys soon." He grabbed a very confused Mingyu by the arm and gave Seungcheol a look. Seungcheol could see right through that look: Jisoo made up an excuse to leave the table so that Seungcheol could make his move. Seungcheol gave him a look back that meant 'thank you' and Jisoo seemed to understand it as he smiled back.

This left Seungcheol to deal with Minghao and Junhui's disgusting PDA by himself, so he let out an audible sigh of relief when Minghao announced that he had to go.

"I'll come with you," Junhui tugged at Minghao's arm, not before giving Seungcheol a 0.1 second look. Minghao was just about to say okay but Seungcheol interrupted, "uh, Junhui... I have something to tell you, could you stay with me for awhile?"

An obvious pout found its way to Junhui's face. Minghao had to whisper something into Junhui's ear and kiss him on the cheek before Junhui was all heart eyes again, cheeks turning a faint shade of red. Seungcheol's heart burned with jealousy.

"Uh.. Junhui..." Seungcheol disrupted Junhui's eyes trailing Minghao as he walked out of the restaurant. "Yeah? What did you need to tell me?"

Seungcheol was just about to stutter that he was joking and he should probably get going too, but one look at the red string between their pinkys, that was no longer than a couple inches, motivated him to keep going.

Seungcheol swiped a tongue over his lips, played with his fingers and blurted out, "I- uh, this is gonna sound really weird but Junhui, haha... I've been wanting to say this for a long time now, but being the coward I am I didn't have the courage... so- like- please try to understand, I mean you might be all freaked out and all but-"

"Get to the point," Junhui laughed, a sound that was pleasing enough for the bundle of nerves, also known as Seungcheol, to relax. Seungcheol took a deep breath and continued, "raise your left pinky."

Junhui did as told, and so did Seungcheol. "You may not believe it, but we're connected," Seungcheol reached over and tightened the loose string on Junhui's pinky.

Junhui raised an eyebrow, urging him to continue. He was not amused.

Seungcheol proceeded, much more confident than before. "So, that means we're soulmates. Soulmates are meant for each other, and one of the pair is not allowed to go off and date a samgyeobsal head."

Junhui's eyebrows furrowed and he clicked his tongue with discontent at the comment, "you believe in soulmates?"

"How could I not believe in soulmates? The first time I saw you I knew we were perfect for each other. And our connection proves it," he lifted up his pinky again.

The brown-haired boy sat still for a few seconds, processing Seungcheol's words. Out of nowhere, he suddenly bolted up from his seat and yelled at Seungcheol, "B-Bullshit! Absolute bullshit!"

All the other guests in the restaurant turned to face Junhui. He didn't seem one bit fazed at the attention through, he continued pointing at Seungcheol and yelling, "you're lying! You can't see the red strings; you're just using it as an excuse to become my boyfriend again! I only love Minghao now! I've gotten over you, Seungcheol, long ago, so don't be a selfish liar and steal me from Minghao! Never, even in your dreams!" Junhui was shaking now, and Seungcheol could see tears forming in his eyes. The urge to lean forward and envelope Junhui in a warm hug was real.

"No, Junhui, don't say that, I'm not lying! We really are connected, seriously! How are you so sure I'm lying? Can you see the string? Tell me you can see the string!" Seungcheol was equally as angry as Junhui now. How dare Junhui accuse him of lying when he was just relaying his feelings to him?

Junhui was seething with anger by now, fists clenching and unclenching. He continued in a soft but dangerous voice, "fine, I can't see the string, but you could as well be lying that you can see it, you know  Seungcheol. The odds are one in a million. That's a total of 50 people in Korea that are able to see it. What's the possibility of you being one of them? If you want to lie, make it believable, stupid. And for your infomation, I'm never giving you a second chance. Goodbye," Junhui flipped the finger at Seungcheol before storming out of the restaurant, leaving Seungcheol to handle all the post-embarrassment, and with a terribly shattered heart.

(ノД`)・゜・。

Seungcheol dragged his feet back to his house, dejected, and was surprised to see Jisoo comfortably sitting on his couch. The moment Seungcheol's eyes landed on Jisoo, he ran forward and cried out loud, hugging Jisoo so tight he thought he wouldn't be able to breathe.

Jisoo didn't say anything, he just silently hugged Seungcheol and rubbed his back. When he had calmed down, Jisoo sighed, "it didn't go well, didn't it."

Seungcheol felt like crying all over again. "Terrible. Where's Mingyu?"

"I know Mingyu isn't really mature about this subject and he'll probably make you even more stressed because he's always so negative and stuff," Jisoo smiled, "so I made him stay at home." Seungcheol cracked a smile at the comment. Jisoo always understood him.

"What are you gonna do now?" Jisoo asked Seungcheol, whose eyes seemed to light up on fire at the question. "After school, I'm gonna corner him and kiss him. Yes, that's what I'm going to do and no one's stopping me this time."

Jisoo frowned at the answer. "Are you sure? What if Junhui hits you or something? Want me to back you up if something goes wrong?" Seungcheol's shook his head. "Don't worry too much about me," he smiled and patted Jisoo's hand, "I'll be fine."

（・□・；）

Seungcheol sat in for recess the next day. Mingyu came up to him with a grim expression on his face, and Seungcheol knew better than to mess with him when he had that look on him. Mingyu sat in the desk in front of his, "I have a present for you," before placing a scissors on Seungcheol's desk.

Seungcheol squinted his eyes at the scissors. "Are you trying to cut off our friendship?"

Mingyu huffed. "Stupid, I'm trying to cut off you and Junhui's relationship. Literally."

Seungcheol rolled his eyes as he dropped the scissors back in Mingyu's hands. "I have my own scissors at home. And what makes you so sure that I'm going to cut it off today?"

Mingyu didn't say anything for awhile. He looked down at his lap, sighing deeply. "Mingyu?"

"Seungcheol, they're going back."

"What?"

"To China, their homeland. Tomorrow. Both of them. If... if you want to do anything about it, today's your last chance," Mingyu continued talking to himself, voice quivering.

Seungcheol couldn't wrap his head around it. "But... why so suddenly?" He knew Junhui had come to Korea to study till he finished university before he could go back to China, but they were only in high school and he wanted to give up Korea education already? Was it Minghao who wanted to go back and Junhui couldn't bear to be seperated from him?

"I-I think it has something to do with whatever you said to him yesterday. Minghao told me Junhui was pretty shook after he came back from the restaurant. Seungcheol, this was bound to happen, please give up on him and cut it off," Mingyu was practically begging Seungcheol at this moment, but the words 'give up' didn't exist in Seungcheol's dictionary.

"But...if I cut it off, then who am I going to be connected to?" Seungcheol didn't like the idea of walking around with a dangling red string with no one on the other end.

"You could be like those other people whose strings have been cut off, too. There are tons of people like that in the world, Seungcheol, like me," Mingyu paused and raised his left pinky, allowing Seungcheol to see the short thread that was threatening to slip off anytime. Seungcheol reached over and tightened it for him. "Yours isn't the only case. Hey, why not you connect yours to mine? We can be soulmates."

Seungcheol smiled slightly before shoving Mingyu to the floor. "Jisoo would kill us. Plus, I'd rather die than be committed to you for the rest of my life," Mingyu gave an airy laugh before sticking his tongue out at Seungcheol, "I don't want to be your soulmate either, you're too ugly for me," he flipped his non-existent long hair.

Seungcheol looked like he was going to give Mingyu another shove but he just sighed deeply. "No... Mingyu.. there must be another way that doesn't need me to cut my string. Do long distance relationships work...?" Seungcheol tried but Mingyu shot him a stern glare.

"Don't try to be positive about this situation, Choi Seungcheol," Mingyu's mood took a 180° spin, "long distance friendships might work, but not relationships. Stop being delusional. You know what you have to do, and you know what's going to happen. But it can't be prevented. Think about it, Seungcheol," Mingyu looked at him one last time before exiting the classroom.

Seungcheol sighed. What he hated about Mingyu was that he was always right. He glanced at the scissors which was back on his desk, before putting it into his pencil case. Mingyu was always right.

ヾ(｡>﹏<｡)ﾉﾞ

Seungcheol bolted through hallways, trying to find a certain Chinese-speaking, brown-haired man.

_"If you want to do anything about it, today's your last chance."_  Mingyu's words echoed in his mind. Seungcheol ran faster.

He stopped at a corner when he saw the familiar tuft of light brown hair sticking out from behind a locker. Seungcheol wasted no time in grabbing Junhui's arm and throwing him into a nearby empty classroom.

"What the fuck? Is this your goodbye present for me? Dragging me into an empty classroom so you can make your love to me?" Junhui spat out at his fist landed on Seungcheol's cheek squarely.

Seungcheol fell to the floor, clutching his cheek and hoping that the pain would fade. He got up just in time to see Junhui leaving the classroom. "Wait!"

Junhui did not look impressed as he stood by the doorway. "What the hell do you want from me Choi Seungcheol. I ain't got all day," his voice had simmered down a little.

Seungcheol stumbled over to Junhui as he said, "don't misunderstand, I'm not going to lay my hands anywhere on you except for your hands... just...just listen to me, Junhui," Seungcheol looked up at him, looking for any sign from Junhui that he could continue, and Junhui nodded.

"I-I'm sorry... I lied to you," Seungcheol grabbed Junhui's left hand and held it in his. He looked down at the red strings, "I know it was terribly selfish of me for demanding you to come back to me like I said to you yesterday, so I made up that stupid lie of being able to see the strings, so that you'd believe me and we could get back together. I-I can't see the strings, Junhui, and... I'm sorry... I hope we can continue to be friends after you've gone, I've realised my mistake and I understand if you don't want to forgive me, but... take care of yourself and Minghao. I'll... m-miss you," Seungcheol choked back his tears.

He was hoping for Junhui to reach out to his face and pat his cheek or give him some sort of affection, but Junhui just rolled his eyes, flung his hand away from Seungcheol's, and stormed out of the classroom with a "fucking liar". Well, what could Seungcheol expect. Junhui didn't know Seungcheol spat out lie after lie to him so that he could make Junhui feel at least a little bit better. Junhui didn't know Seungcheol's heart ached as he said that to him. Junhui didn't know Seungcheol would never stop loving him even after he had went back to China, because to Seungcheol, friends were never enough.

But most of all, Junhui didn't know that Seungcheol stood in the empty classroom for a long time, after he left, alone, with a painfully short red string dangling from his left pinky, with no one connected to the other end.

Seungcheol allowed his knees to give way, and he cried. Not because Junhui was leaving for China, but because the only connection that prevented them from seperating, was never going to be joint back, ever again.


End file.
